Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Medical School have designed a nanoparticle that mimics the bacterium Salmonella and may help to counteract a major mechanism of chemotherapy resistance.
Working with mouse models of colon and breast cancer, Beth McCormick, Ph.D., and her colleagues demonstrated that when combined with chemotherapy, the nanoparticle reduced tumor growth substantially more than chemotherapy alone.
The results of their research were published July 25 in Nature Communications.
Chemotherapy Resistance
A membrane protein called P-glycoprotein (P-gp) acts like a garbage chute that pumps waste, foreign particles, and toxins out of cells. P-gp is a member of a large family of transporters, called ATP-binding cassette (ABC) transporters, that are active in normal cells but also have roles in cancer and other diseases. For instance, cancer cells can co-opt P-gp to rid themselves of chemotherapeutic agents, severely limiting the efficacy of these drugs.
In previous work, Dr. McCormick and her colleagues serendipitously discovered that Salmonella enterica, a bacterium that causes food poisoning, decreases the amount of P-gp on the surface of intestinal cells. Because Salmonella has the capacity to grow selectively in cancer cells, the researchers wondered whether there was a way to use the bacterium to counteract chemotherapy resistance caused by P-gp.
“While trying to understand how Salmonella invades the human host, we made this other observation that may be relevant to cancer therapeutics and multidrug resistance,” Dr. McCormick said.
Salmonella and Cancer Cells
To determine the specific bacterial component responsible for reducing P-gp levels, the researchers engineered multiple Salmonella mutant strains and tested their effect on P-gp levels in colon cells. They found that a Salmonella strain lacking the bacterial protein SipA was unable to reduce P-gp levels in the colon of mice or in a human colon cancer cell line. Salmonella secretes SipA, along with other proteins, to help the bacterium invade human cells.
The researchers then showed that treatment with SipA protein alone decreased P-gp levels in cell lines of human colon cancer, breast cancer, bladder cancer, and lymphoma.
Because P-gp can pump drugs out of cells, the researchers next sought to determine whether SipA treatment would prevent cancer cells from expelling chemotherapy drugs.
When they treated human colon cancer cells with the chemotherapy agents doxorubicin or vinblastine, with or without SipA, they found that the addition of SipA increased drug retention inside the cells. SipA also increased the cancer cells’ sensitivity to both drugs, suggesting that it could possibly be used to enhance chemotherapy.
“Through millions of years of co-evolution, Salmonella has figured out a way to remove this transporter from the surface of intestinal cells to facilitate host infection,” said Dr. McCormick. “We capitalized on the organism’s ability to perform that function.”
The research team is moving forward with preclinical studies of the SipA nanoparticle to test its safety and toxicity, and to establish appropriate dosage levels.
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